3 Murphys
by VibeQuake
Summary: Strange monsters are prowling in the timestream. After an encounter with them, Cavendish is missing and Dakota is too injured to search for him. In Milo Murphy's care, Dakota calls in the cavalry. But how can a bunch of time travellers defeat a group of monsters that are known for maiming and killing time travellers? Mild spoilers for 'Missing Milo'. CavendishxOC, no Milo ship.
1. Chapter 1

The time vehicle burst through the blue portal and promptly crashed into a tree, completely wrecking the car. As Vinnie Dakota opened the door and dropped out of the car, a large branch from the tree landed right next to him. He stared at it for a moment. "Was that because the car hit the tree, or was it…?"

"Hi, Mr Dakota!" came the cheery young voice.

"Yep, it's him." Dakota rolled into a sitting position, leaning back on the wreck of his car. "Hey, Milo. Murphy's Law still in full swing?"

"Yep, like always." Milo smiled cheerfully. "Is Mr Cavendish with you?"

Dakota shook his head, wincing as the movement sparked pain in his chest.

"Hey…are you okay?" Milo asked, sensing Dakota's pain.

"Ran into a bit of trouble on the way here," Dakota replied, his voice noticeably hoarser. "We got attacked."

"By what?" Milo gasped.

Dakota tried to shrug, but the pain in his chest prohibited it. "Dunno. Couldn't see 'em. But whatever they were, they dragged Cavendish outta the car and I haven't seen him since."

Milo's eyes widened. "Is he okay?"

"I don't know. I'm hoping so, but those monsters were vicious."

He jerked his thumb towards the back of the car, where Milo found a massive claw mark across the entire rear of the car. It looked four or five times as large as a normal lion or tiger's claw mark. He found himself wincing. If that was the damage these creatures could do to a metal car…

He turned back to Dakota, who had tipped his head back and closed his eyes. Milo was no medical professional, but even he could see that the adult's face was pale and he seemed to be having trouble breathing.

"Do you need a hospital?"

Dakota shook his head quickly. "I won't be able to explain what happened. Besides, I'm from the future, so how am I gonna explain the lack of a medical file?"

"I guess that's true." Milo hesitated. "Are you hurt?"

"Just my chest." Dakota winced. "Can you help me up?"

Milo nodded quickly. Looking round for any potential Murphy's Law-related dangers, he approached Dakota and helped lift the older man to his feet. Dakota winced again as the pain in his chest spread.

"I think I might have a couple of broken ribs," he theorised. "Kid, do you know of anywhere I can lie low for a while?"

"Um…" Milo thought hard for a moment. "There's a warehouse on the other side of town that's been abandoned for years. I go by there every weekend when I visit my dad at work, and I've never seen anyone go in or come out."

"Perfect. Let's get going."

The two of them walked out of the park and onto the sidewalk next to the main road. Thinking about his partner, Dakota's face creased in worry. "I hope Cavendish is okay…"

"He'll be fine, I know he will," Milo said optimistically. "He's a time traveller!"

"So am I," chuckled Dakota. "Milo…I'm sorry to be annoying, but do you have a phone I can borrow?"

"Sure!" Milo fished his mobile phone out of his pocket, unlocked it, and handed it to Dakota, who opened the call app and paused.

"Do you think this phone can reach the future?" he asked.

Milo shrugged. "Maybe. I've never tried."

Dakota's subsequent sigh quickly turned into yet another wince. "Time is running out. I gotta try."

Biting his lip nervously, he dialled the number and waited.

 _Please, please, please._

"Hello?" came a slightly crackly male voice.

Dakota almost fainted out of relief. "Marvin, thank God. It's Vinnie. Something's happened."

"What is it? Are you okay?" Marvin's worried voice asked.

"We were attacked in the timestream," Dakota explained. "Whatever the creatures were, they got Cavendish and hurt me. I'm stuck in 2017 and I'm gonna be recovering here for a while."

"Steph and I will come as soon as we can," Marvin promised. "Where are your injuries?"

"I think I got a couple of broken ribs," Dakota replied. "But I'll be fine; I'm with a friend. I'm just worried about Cavendish."

"I am too, Vin. Don't worry; help will be there soon. Have you contacted anyone else?"

"No-one TO contact. Helen's MIA and Aida's doing an assignment back in Ancient Rome, I think."

"Ancient Greece," Marvin corrected automatically. "And what about Savannah and Brick?"

"You kidding me?" Dakota snorted. "They hate us. They think we're a couple of incompetent losers. Even if they DID come, they wouldn't stop insulting us and trying to do things their way. And you know that "their way" is doing everything in a ridiculously convoluted way."

Though Dakota couldn't see it, Marvin was nodding. That was one of the most accurate descriptions of the two agents that he had ever heard. "You're right. It might be worth contacting them anyway, though."

"No." Dakota sighed. "Just please get here as soon as you can."

"Alright. Where will you be?"

"Just phone this number back when you get to 2017 and my friend or I will give you directions."

"Gotcha. See you soon." Marvin hesitated. "Vin?"

"Yeah?"

"…stay safe."

Dakota couldn't help smiling. "I will, buddy. See you soon."

He hung up the phone and gave it back to Milo, who had been trying not to eavesdrop. "Is help coming from the future?" he asked.

Dakota nodded. "Yeah, but it'll take a while for them to get here. Do you…need to be anywhere today?"

Milo shook his head. "Nah. I was just gonna go to the park, but I think you could use my help."

"Yeah…" Dakota sighed. He hated leaning so heavily on the kid, but Milo was stronger and more resilient than any other kid Dakota had met. "I could really use it. Thanks. Well, until Marvin and Steph get here."

"Friends of yours?" Milo inquired.

"Yeah," Dakota replied again. "Marvin's been my best friend for years. We went to time travel school together."

"There's a TIME TRAVEL SCHOOL?" gasped Milo. "That's AWESOME!"

Dakota laughed at the kid's reaction. "Yeah, I'll tell you about it sometime. But anyway, you only have to stay until my friends get here. Then I'll be fine."

"I think you should still have as much help as possible," insisted Milo. "I could go and get my friends, if you like."

"I'd rather involve as few kids as possible," Dakota said. "After last time."

"With King Pistachio?"

"Yeah, that's right. I know Cavendish regrets putting you kids in danger like that, and so do I."

"But we all survived," argued Milo. "Zach and Melissa are extremely adaptable, and Sara's been dealing with Murphy's Law her entire life. Whatever this is, we can handle it."

"No," snapped Dakota. "We got lucky last time, kid. Time travelling is extremely dangerous and neither Cavendish nor I can handle being responsible for one of you kids getting hurt. Or worse…" He shuddered, then continued in a pained croak, "I already lost one friend to time travel, Milo. I can't go through that again."

Milo hesitated. On one hand, he was almost burning up with curiosity over what happened to Dakota's friend. But on the other hand, he hated prying into people's pasts, especially when they felt pained by them.

Just as he opened his mouth—to say what, he didn't know—, Dakota suddenly doubled over in pain, clutching his chest. Milo placed Dakota's arm over his shoulders and helped the adult along. Luckily, they were close to the warehouse, and Milo got Dakota inside easily.

As he closed the door behind them, Milo couldn't help wondering if this was the start of a new adventure for him.


	2. Chapter 2

Once inside the warehouse, Dakota limped over to a tattered couch and collapsed onto it with a grunt of pain. The noise didn't sound good to Milo, who rummaged around in his backpack to see if he could find anything that could help. To his disappointment, the only helpful thing he could find was a bottle of painkiller pills.

"Are you allergic to anything?" Milo asked, slinging his backpack onto his back.

Dakota slowly shook his head. "Nothing."

"And are you in a lot of pain?"

"Um…it HAS gotten worse." Dakota tenderly felt his chest with his fingertips. "Ow."

Milo shrugged. "Good enough."

The boy shook out two pills from the bottle and gave them to Dakota, who swallowed them immediately. "I read the label, and there's a bit of sedative in there as well, apparently," Milo told him. "So that should help you sleep."

"Then you're gonna have to flag down any of my future friends who come this way," Dakota said, his speech slowly becoming slurred. "They'll be easy to spot; they'll probably all be wearing clothes that are out of place in this time."

Milo nodded. "Got it. You just rest now, okay?"

"'Kay," mumbled Dakota, barely awake now. "Be careful."

"Careful's my middle name," Milo grinned.

He turned and headed over to the door of the warehouse, not bothering to add that his real middle name was "Danger".

…

 _"_ _What did you guys get for question five?" Vinnie asked his friends as they exited the examination hall._

 _"_ _I only managed to think of nausea and headaches," sighed Carnelian, tying up her red hair in a bun. "That really disappointed me."_

 _"_ _Fainting," Marvin said, pointing at her. "I got headaches and fainting."_

 _"Guys, the possible symptoms of first-time time travelling are headaches, nausea, fainting, dizziness, temporary loss of memory, inability to speak, and in some extreme cases, coma and death," Neptune sighed. "We covered this in our study session two nights ago."_

 _"_ _We're not all extreme nerds, though," Marvin laughed, punching Neptune in the shoulder._

 _Neptune rubbed his shoulder, scowling. "Firstly, don't do that. Secondly, I'm not an extreme nerd. And thirdly, you don't need to be a nerd in order to do well on an exam. Do you guys WANT to fail?"_

 _"_ _Of course we don't," Carnelian said softly. "You know that. Remember our dream?"_

 _The four of them fell silent, remembering what they had planned for the future._

 _"_ _The explorer," Marvin said finally._

 _"_ _The healer," Neptune added._

 _"_ _The adventurer," Carnelian said._

 _"_ _The saviour," Vinnie finished._

 _"_ _The four of us will become the best time travel team in the world," Neptune declared. "You know why?" He didn't wait for anyone to reply. "Because we look after each other."_

 _"_ _And we're awesome," added Carnelian, smirking._

 _"_ _We ARE awesome," laughed Vinnie. "So do you guys wanna head out for some food?"_

 _All at once, the three of them turned to look at him. "Uh, no," Marvin said, glaring at Dakota. "You're not coming with us."_

 _"_ _What?" Vinnie frowned. "What do you mean?"_

 _"_ _You're not really our friend," scoffed Carnelian. "We just let you tag along with us."_

 _Vinnie flinched. "Th-That's not true…"_

 _"_ _Yes it is," Neptune snapped savagely. "We all know you'll never amount to anything. Why would we want to be friends with YOU?"_

 _The pain in Vinnie's chest was growing as he struggled to hold back tears. "Why are you doing this?!"_

 _If his friends answered, Vinnie didn't hear it._

Because the next thing he knew, Dakota jerked awake and found himself on the tattered couch, his chest stinging. Whether from the pain of his injuries or his dream, he didn't know. He lay back again, unable to stop tears from falling down his cheeks. He felt unspeakably angry at his subconscious mind for making up such horrible nightmares that tainted his memories of his best friends. His best friends who DID care for him and WERE his real friends. Now every time he thought about their old dream, he felt a melancholy kind of longing.

"The saviour," he murmured aloud.

He was going to save people. That was what he meant by that word. Back in time travel school, he had had a great ambition to become a time traveller in order to save people. His lifelong dream was to be able to save the world one day. But since that was an extremely big dream, he had settled for being able to save and help people in need.

 _Oh, Neptune…_

Dakota hated not being able to think about his friends without feeling sad. What happened to them was incredibly unfair. The only one of his friends whom Dakota could still contact was Marvin, and knowing that he was on his way here was a comforting thought to Dakota. Marvin and Stephanie were probably his current best friends. Excluding Cavendish, of course. Not that Cavendish thought of Dakota and himself as friends.

Now that Dakota had seen TWO of his best friends being dragged—one of them with fatal consequences—into the timestream, he was more determined than ever to protect any other time travellers that he could. Including Milo Murphy. The kid may have been the most tough and resourceful person whom Dakota had ever met, but that by no means meant he was indestructible.

Wincing, Dakota pushed himself into a sitting position. The door to the warehouse was slightly ajar, and outside, Dakota could just about see the figure of Milo Murphy, keeping watch. He sighed, wishing the kid was nearer so that he could get some more of that medicine; he was tired and sure that he wouldn't be able to sleep with the pain in his chest. Besides, he was afraid to go to sleep again, in case his brain showed him more warped memories of his best friends.

Outside, Milo had spotted that Dakota was awake, but he seemed to settle back down quickly enough, so Milo kept his position. Everything was quiet; it was a Sunday evening, and most everyone was inside with their families. The few strangers who did happen to pass by didn't really seem to be bothered by the fact that Milo was there.

Just as Milo decided to head inside and check on Dakota, a large crash snapped both of them back to reality. Milo spun round just in time to see a pickup truck come flying out of nowhere and crash into a tree in the park opposite them.

"What was that?!" Dakota yelled from the other side of the warehouse.

"A pickup truck," Milo called back.

 _Marvin!_ Dakota gasped internally.

"What happened to it?!"

"I don't know." Having dealt with Murphy's Law his entire life, Milo was strong. But nothing had prepared him for how mutilated the pickup truck was. "But whatever it was…I don't think the occupants of that truck survived it."


	3. Chapter 3

Leaving the warehouse behind, Milo rushed across the road and towards the almost-destroyed pickup. As he drew nearer, one of the back doors opened and a girl of about thirteen fell out. Milo could tell she was from the future because she was wearing clothes not dissimilar to Dakota's. There was a very obvious laceration on her forehead, but other than that, she seemed not to have any other injuries. Milo rushed over to her and reached her just as she regained consciousness.

"Are you okay?" Milo asked her as he helped her to her feet.

The girl nodded shakily. "M-Mom and Dad...!"

"I'll help them," Milo assured her. "I'm Milo. What's your name?"

"P-Pearl."

"Pearl, do you see that warehouse over there?"

Pearl followed Milo's finger and nodded.

"Go there. You'll find a man named Dakota."

"Uncle Vinnie?" gasped Pearl. "Uncle Vinnie is here?"

Milo nodded. "That's right. Can you make it across that road?"

"Y-Yes. Thank you." She coughed a few times, then grasped Milo's arms. "P-Please help my p-parents."

"I will. I promise."

Pearl began stumbling off in the direction of the warehouse. Milo turned back to the car and looked through the driver's side window. He could see that the passenger window was shattered, and the silver-haired woman in the passenger seat had blood running down her face. The man in the driver's seat didn't look much better, apart from a lack of bleeding. Neither of them were conscious. Milo had no idea whether that was due to the crash, or whether they had crashed BECAUSE something had knocked them out.

He got the blowtorch out of his backpack and carefully removed both doors. He dragged the man out gently and lay him on the grass. The woman was a lot harder. Her seatbelt had jammed and Milo wasn't strong enough to release it. While he was deciding what to do, the man regained consciousness. Blinking and frowning, he looked up, registered Milo, opened his mouth to say something, then spotted the woman. "Steph!"

"You guys are really lucky to be alive," Milo remarked. "I've seen better wrecks with no survivors."

The man struggled to his feet and, leaning against the car for support, worked his way around to Milo. "I'm Marvin. This is Stephanie Steele. Where's my daughter?!"

"She's safe," Milo reassured him, guessing he was talking about Pearl. "You must be Dakota's friend."

"Vinnie, yes. Is she with him?"

Milo nodded. "Yes, and she's fine. If you're up to it, we need to remove Miss Steele from the car."

"Steph. Call her Steph. And I agree. So we need to cut her seatbelt, but I don't have anything that can do that."

"I do!" Milo offered, digging into his backpack.

Marvin watched in amazement as he pulled out a fairly large pair of shears. "These should do the trick."

"Why do you have gardening shears in your backpack?" Marvin asked slowly.

"I'll explain later. When I cut the seatbelt, you lift her out. Got it?"

Marvin nodded quickly. "I got it." He got into position beside Steph, ready to catch her if she tipped. His chest was aching with worry, and the fact that there was blood all over her face only made it worse. He knew he wouldn't be able to live without her. He needed her, and Pearl needed her mother.

"Ready?" Milo asked.

"I'm ready."

With that, Milo lifted the shears and cut through the seatbelt in two places. This allowed Marvin to pull her torso out of the car, then lift her into his arms. Marvin could carry Steph's weight easily, but he was hurt as well. He wouldn't be able to carry her for long.

"Where to?" Marvin croaked.

Milo pointed towards the warehouse. "Follow me."

When they got inside the abandoned building, they found Dakota standing near the entrance, Pearl hugging him for comfort. They both gasped when they saw Marvin and Steph's injuries.

"Put her on the couch over there," Milo instructed. "There's a first aid kit in the closet behind it."

Pearl began crying out of fear as she watched her father lay her injured mother down on the sofa.

"It's okay, Pearly," Dakota whispered to her, hugging her soothingly. "Your parents will be just fine."

Milo came back over. "I need to call my parents."

"What are you gonna tell them?" Dakota asked nervously.

"Well, I can't exactly tell them I'm hiding out four time travellers who've been attacked by weird monsters," Milo pointed out. "They wouldn't let me help you anymore."

"They'd BELIEVE that?!"

Milo shrugged. "Me and my dad both deal with Murphy's Law every minute of every day. I think they'd believe anything I told them. But I'm just going to tell them that I'm staying at a friend's house tonight and tomorrow. I don't want them to worry about me."

"Good call."

"I should really call Zack and Melissa too," Milo added reluctantly. "If I just let them know what's happening-."

Dakota shook his head immediately. "Kid, I don't know them even half as well as you do, but even I know that they'll want to help, and I can't let them. I'm reluctant to even let YOU carry on helping."

"But why?" Milo demanded.

"Because time travel is dangerous!" Dakota snapped. "And so's all the crap that comes with it! If the monsters that attacked us are specifically targeting time travellers, then they might find their way here, and we barely even stand a chance against them as it is! I'm sorry, Milo, but the fewer people who know about this, the better."

Milo hesitated, feeling sorry for the older man. "You've had some bad experiences with time travel, haven't you?"

Dakota turned away so that the kid couldn't see how close he was to crying. "Bad doesn't even begin to describe it."

"She's stable," Marvin called suddenly. "She's having trouble breathing but I've cleaned up the wound on her head. Pearl, do you need a bandage?"

Pearl, who had been standing next to Dakota the whole time, following his conversation with Milo, nodded slowly. "My head hurts."

"Come over here, then, sweetie."

As Pearl trotted over to her father, Milo addressed Dakota: "Are you her biological uncle?"

Dakota shook his head, glad to talk about his adorable little Pearl. "Marvin and I go way back. He made Cavendish and me her godfathers."

Milo smiled. "Congratulations. She seems like a really sweet girl."

"She is. She's only fourteen but she's been through a lot."

"Fourteen? Seriously?" Milo blinked. "She's a year older than me! I would never have guessed that."

"She seems younger, I know," Dakota agreed. "She's shorter than an average kid her age. She's also...been sheltered her whole life, if you know what I mean."

"I do, yeah. But considering she's the daughter of two time travellers, I'd have expected her to be a little more...I dunno...like me, I guess."

"Well, after what happened to Marv and Steph's first kid, they couldn't risk anything hurting Pearl."

"First kid...? What happened to him or her?"

Dakota hesitated. "It's not my business. If Marvin or Stephanie want to tell you, then I'll leave it to them. They might not want you to know."

"Fair enough," admitted Milo.

"But all I'll say is...you and Pearl are more alike than you know. You're basically two sides of the same coin.'

Milo thought about that for a minute. He suspected that what happened to this "first kid", and Dakota losing a friend to time travel were connected. Maybe it was the same event. Milo wouldn't know for sure unless someone told him, but he wasn't going to ask. Like he said before, he didn't want to pry into any pasts that caused pain for the person. If they wanted to talk, he would listen. But if not, he wouldn't ask.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Pearl watching him from across the room while her father tended to her head wound. This was the boy Marvin had told her about. And Milo was exactly the same as Marvin had described him.

Which meant that Milo and Pearl truly were two sides of the same coin.


	4. Chapter 4

Aida Star was in Ancient Greece. She was dressed as an "Ethiopian", AKA a black African. She was originally born in Senegal-though her family had moved to America when she was about four-so she was actually African, but she didn't exactly like being referred to as Ethiopian, mostly because people had been making up her birth country her whole life. She had been assumed to be from Egypt, Sudan, Chad, Zimbabwe, and even The Congo. The most popular one, for some bizarre reason, was Madagascar. When she was a kid, she had actually believed for a while that she was Madagascan, before she asked her parents and found out that she was Senegalese.

But now she had to pretend to be Ethiopian, which wasn't terribly difficult. She was wearing a simple white dress and no shoes, and her black hair was loose round her shoulders. She had the option to wear a toga and shoes, but she was playing the part of a simple widow, and she had to look like a peasant.

She was currently sitting on the side of a fountain, simply taking in the air and feeling glad that she was able to be in such an ancient time period.

But at the same time, she missed her friends. She missed Helen, who had been MIA for eight days now; Marvin and Steph, whom she hadn't seen in a few weeks; and even Cavendish, her inspiration. Most of all, she missed Vinnie Dakota, her sort-of boyfriend. They had gone out a few times but she didn't know if they were 'official'. Besides, love was dangerous for time travellers. Time travelling was one of the most dangerous occupations ever, simply because time travellers went back and forward to many, many different time periods, all with their own major dangers. Aida knew of at least two people who had gone to the same time travel school as her who had gone on a mission and hadn't made it back. One of them had had a girlfriend, who was now forever separated from the love of her life. Aida didn't want that to happen to anyone else, much less herself.

Lifting her chin, Aida closed her eyes and breathed in the fresh air. Even though everything was calm and quiet and peaceful, something felt wrong to her. Time travellers often had a sixth sense, which helped them feel unnatural disturbances around them, disturbances that were out of place in the time period they were in. Aida didn't know what was causing this, but she knew she had to find out. Disturbances were twice as important as missions.

So Aida got up and sprinted all the way to where she had hidden her helicopter: her time vehicle. She hopped into it and pressed the button to make her disappear into the timestream, counting herself lucky that she didn't have to take off. She didn't know how the Ancient Greeks would react to seeing something like that, but she figured that it would probably impact the timeline in some way.

As she flew her helicopter through the timestream, she suddenly heard a scream and a loud roar, both of which gave her a fright. "What the hell?!"

She turned her head towards the source of the noise and found a familiar time vehicle shooting along the timestream just ahead of her and to the right. The vehicle was a quad bike, meaning Aida could very clearly see the person on it. She didn't recognise the woman, but she knew she had to do something quickly. One of the tyres had been slashed by what looked like some kind of animal, and she could see at least two creatures surrounding the bike. The creatures looked like they were made out of smoke; they had torsos, heads, and arms, but where their legs would be was a wisp of smoke, like the genie from 'Aladdin'. They were deep purple in colour, and Aida could see that they had sharp teeth, muzzles like a wild cat, and long sharp claws on their hands...or paws...or whatever those things were.

Aida had never felt more horrified in her life. What were these beasts? Where had they come from? Why were they here? And more importantly, what did they want?

Well, at the moment, what they were doing was attacking a time traveller.

In a moment of impulsiveness, Aida jerked the stick and flew her helicopter straight at the creatures, managing to knock both of them away. She stopped alongside the quad bike, opened the side door remotely, and rolled down her window. "Jump!" she yelled. "Jump into here!"

The traveller, who was wearing a helmet that obscured her entire face, quickly stood up on the seat of the bike, lined up the jump, and then leapt clear into the side of the helicopter. Aida quickly closed the door, rolled up the window, and punched it. She heard the woman grunt as they picked up speed and eventually managed to escape through a time portal. The stick wobbled as Aida struggled to keep control of the aircraft as it arrived in the new time period: 2017. After a few more wobbles, the helicopter became still again. Aida breathed a sigh of relief and briefly glanced back over her shoulder. The quad rider was lying on her side at the back of the helicopter, curled up in a ball. She didn't seem hurt, which relieved Aida. Maybe she was just recovering from the attack.

Looking down, she spotted a helipad on top of a building. It seemed to be a warehouse of some kind, perhaps one that had goods imported to it regularly by helicopter. So she aimed for it and gently touched the aircraft down on the helipad. She'd have to explain herself to the warehouse owners later.

After switching the engine off, she went into the back of the helicopter and touched the woman's shoulder. "We've landed," she said. "Are you coming out?"

The woman slowly nodded and sat up. Aida hopped out of the helicopter, closely followed by the woman, who seemed to wince when she landed on the hard concrete. Aida started to ask if she was okay, but she shrugged off the question. The traveller still hadn't spoken a word since Aida rescued her.

As they approached the door, they saw the handle turn. Aida stepped back as the door opened, and standing there was...

"Aida?!"

"Vinnie!" Aida breathed. She beamed and threw her arms round his neck. Dakota hugged her tightly back.

"Are you okay?" He seemed worried. "Did you come through the timestream? Were you attacked?"

"No, but this lady was," Aida replied, stepping back from him to show him the woman. "I don't know if-."

"V-Vinnie...?" the woman suddenly gasped. She reached up and removed her helmet, revealing long red hair and a scar over her eyelid.

Dakota's face paled quickly.

"C-Carnelian?!"


	5. Chapter 5

When they got downstairs, the first person to spot Carnelian was Pearl, who was sitting at the side of the warehouse near Milo. Her face lit up. "Aunty Carnie!"

Marvin's head immediately snapped up and he watched with his mouth open as Pearl rushed over to the woman in the motorcycle suit and hugged her tightly. After a brief hesitation, Carnelian smiled weakly, bent down, and hugged the teenager back.

Marvin was so focused on Carnelian that he didn't even notice when Dakota and Aida came over to him, hand in hand, until they were right in front of him.

"H-Hey, Aida." Marvin blinked a few times to clear his vision. "Good to see you."

"You too." Aida smiled. "How's the condition?"

"Getting worse recently," Marvin admitted. "After B.A.T.T., it was at the worst it's ever been. It's slowly gotten better over the years, but recently…"

As if on cue, one of the ceiling lights suddenly crashed to the ground and exploded into flames, causing the group of adults to jump. In the distance, they heard Milo yell, "I got it!" as he jumped up, grabbed a fire extinguisher out of his backpack, and put out the fire.

Marvin rubbed his upper arms with his hands, his shoulders hunched. "I hate it," he snapped.

Aida and Dakota both put their arms over his shoulders. "So what now?" the latter asked slowly. "Are you going to talk to Carnie?"

Marvin turned sharply to stare at Dakota. "Are you crazy?! After what I did to her?!"

Aida frowned, confused, but Dakota understood straight away. "Marv, it won't help to run away from this."

"I can't face her, Vin. It's all my fault. Her scar, N…Ne…" He swallowed, unable to even say the name of his former best friend.

Dakota also felt a sting at that, but he brushed it off. "You gotta talk to her at some point, considering she'll be staying here a while. Besides, Pearl loves her."

Marvin glanced over at his daughter and Carnelian, both of whom were laughing together. He felt a sense of impending doom hanging over him, but he sighed and said, "I guess. But what if she hates me?"

"She probably misses you as much as you miss her," Aida said softly.

"I never said I missed her!" Marvin said defensively.

"I can see it in your eyes," Aida said simply.

Marvin sighed again. "Fine. I-I'll do it."

Dakota and Aida let go of him, allowing him to slowly begin making his way across the warehouse. He was feeling sick with nerves; he hadn't spoken to her in ten years. Not since the day he had ruined her life forever.

Carnelian looked up as Marvin approached. Her face held an immeasurable sadness, but she managed a weak smile at the sight of her best friend. "Hello."

Marvin swallowed down the lump in his throat and croaked, "H-Hello. H-How are y-you?"

Carnelian clasped her hands together and dropped her eyes. "I am well, thank you."

"You…uh…you're talking w-weird," stammered Marvin.

"Weird?"

"More…formal than you were before."

"Oh." Carnelian looked away. "My parents forced me to go to counselling after Neptune's death. To take my mind off it, they sent me to a special further education school. They taught me to speak like this."

Marvin, who had flinched at the mention of his deceased friend's name, stared at her. "You're so different, Carnie. Ten years ago, you wouldn't have been able to even hear his name, let alone speak it."

"If you are afraid of speaking Neptune's name, then I can understand why," Carnelian said coldly. "I, however, am not. It is understandable that the name Neptune is as difficult for you to say as the name of your condition."

Marvin reacted like he'd been violently slapped in the face. "C-Carnie…" He winced. "Please…stop."

"I respectfully ask that you do not call me that anymore," Carnelian said, again adverting her eyes. "Either Carnelian or Miss Clay will do."

There was no way Marvin was going to call her Miss Clay. That was a clear sign that something was drastically wrong.

"Carnelian, what is wrong with you?" demanded Marvin. "You hate your surname!"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Your parents abused you!" Marvin snapped. "They made you afraid to be touched, afraid to go home, afraid to get close to people!"

"Enough!" yelled Carnelian suddenly. "Don't talk about my parents that way!"

Her formal manner temporarily dropping, she took an angry step towards Marvin, clenching her fists. Normally Marvin would be scared of such a change, but his anger matched hers. "DON'T defend them, Carnelian! There was no possible excuse for why they treated you like that!"

He forcefully grabbed Carnelian's hand and pulled off her glove, exposing a scar on her palm. It was a jagged line from the base of her middle finger to almost the top of her wrist. Carnelian exhaled sharply as Marvin clutched her hand. "This is what they did to you, Carnie! I don't care about being right; I care about you trying to forgive them." Marvin swallowed, calming down enough to let Carnelian's hand drop. "Of course, that is entirely your decision. But Carnie…you don't deserve this. You didn't deserve anything you've suffered in your life." He paused for a second, before placing his arms around Carnelian's neck in a hug. "And neither did Neptune."

After a brief pause, Carnelian let out a muffled sob and hugged Marvin tightly back.

"You're right; I AM afraid of saying his name," Marvin croaked. "I'm afraid because I know that what happened to him was my fault. I'm afraid because I know I tainted our happy memories of B.A.T.T. with one stupid mistake."

"That's not true," Dakota said unexpectedly, leaving Aida's side and joining his high school friends. "When I was first given an assignment here in 2017, almost everything I did reminded me of something the four of us did back in B.A.T.T., from friendly arguments to our actual training. The best days of my life were the two years I spent in B.A.T.T. with you two and Neptune, and nothing will ever change that."

Marvin and Carnelian both reached out and brought Dakota into the hug. The three of them grasped each other tightly, all of them recalling happy memories of their short but sweet time with Neptune.

It was the first time all three of them had been together in ten years.


End file.
